TOP TEN RECENT BALTIMORE REGION TRANSPORTATION PLANNING DISASTERS

Gerald Neily 8/13/99

10. USF&G MOUNT WASHINGTON CAMPUS

USF&G wanted to build a conference center on the City portion of an attractive property that straddled the City-County Line in Mount Washington. No problem -- the traffic impact was relatively minor compared with that of the burgeoning Baltimore County residential development that was invading City streets, particularly Kelly Avenue, Falls Road and Northern Parkway. If USF&G didn't build their conference center in the City, they'd build it in the County and the traffic would end up in the City anyway. After that, unfortunately, USF&G built an office building on the County portion of the site, and this time they ignored the City's traffic constraints. Baltimore County refused to consider roadway projects to reduce the traffic which would invade the City. As a final stroke, USF&G completed their invasion by moving their entire operation out of their downtown office building and into Mount Washington. Meanwhile, the City repeated their position with several other new development projects -- Mount Washington should absorb as much development as possible, because otherwise, it will move to the County which will push the traffic into the City anyway. So Mount Washington became a victim in the crossfire of the battle between the City and County for the business exodus from downtown.

9. CENTRAL LIGHT RAIL

It suffered huge cost overruns because "Do It Now" replaced intelligent planning. It was built without continuous double tracks or traffic signal control on Howard Street. The signal control has since been installed, but the City is allowed to pre-empt the pre-emption from the MTA anytime it desires. The Falls Road Station parking lot was deliberately built tiny because neighbors didn't want people to use it. Ruxton was bypassed completely. The Cold Spring Lane station was built down in a deep ditch with the only access from a ramp that resembles a Grand Canyon trail. The result? It takes 54 minutes to get to Camden Yards from Hunt Valley, and 18 minutes from Penn Station, plus lengthy waits and almost impossible bus access. This is mass transit?

8. SOLOMON'S ISLAND ROAD

Solomon's Island Road (Maryland Route 2) is the gateway from southern Anne Arundel County into Annapolis, and has experienced several piecemeal widenings. The most significant was a big new four lane bridge over the South River, which overcame an imposing physical barrier to the linkage between bustling greater Annapolis to the north and once-placid Southern Maryland to the south. The result has been a classic case of ceaseless sprawl such as shopping strips and fast food joints, made even more obvious by the metaphorical significance of the South River bridge. Now the area south of the bridge looks pretty much like the area north of the bridge, just as the Eastern Shore's Kent Island, once a world apart, now looks pretty much like Ritchie Highway. The roadway widening has not stopped there, of course, because further piecemeal widenings have become necessary to prevent mass congestion and traffic accidents. Another major widening is now in the works. Where will it end?

7. HANOVER PIKE

Hanover Pike (Maryland Route 30) is the road from Reisterstown to Hanover, Pennsylvania. The Baltimore County portion of Hanover Pike, as one proceeds north from Reisterstown, is a beautiful bucolic byway. As soon as one enters Carroll County approaching Hampstead, it becomes a sprawl mess. From that point northward, the road hugs the eastern boundary of Carroll County. Just beyond the border in Baltimore County, one can see well preserved farms and open space - so near and yet so far. The Carroll County towns of Hampstead and Manchester are gradually becoming unlivable because of the traffic congestion, but still people continue to come. Some seek escape to even greater lengths over the Pennsylvania border. Hampstead and Manchester can be saved by making Hanover Pike into a real main street for a real community, while other community streets can be built because healthy communities can always have many streets to serve different needs. Unfortunately, however, what is being planned in a highway bypass that will simply turn its back on the community and encourage even more movement and more escape.

6. HEALTH CARE FINANCING ADMINISTRATION

HCFA was a case of Baltimore County and the Federal Authorities, including politicians, conspiring to build a huge new government facility way out in an open field beyond Woodlawn and beyond the end of Security Boulevard, and beyond the urban frontier. It could have been built on other sites that relate to the existing Social Security Administration in Woodlawn or downtown Baltimore, and could have taken advantage of existing transportation facilities. Instead, they built it on a site that relates to nothing, and virtually assures that Woodlawn will never become a place with a genuine focal point or perhaps even a soul. Only sprawling traffic jams. At the same time, the authorities seem to be doing their best in an attempt to doom downtown Baltimore to the same fates.

5. JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL

Approximately $300 million was spent to build a Metro subway connection to the vast Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions complex in East Baltimore. Meanwhile, it appears that Hopkins is spending an equivalent sum to build an endless array of parking garages to assure that nobody ever has to use the subway or the public transit system, and can sit in traffic congestion forever. And even more incongruently, the Mass Transit Administration has attempted but has done nothing to link their bus system to the Metro station or the Hopkins campus. The subway station is in the center of the Hopkins campus on Broadway, with no bus connections. The MTA runs buses on Caroline, Wolfe, Washington, Eager, Madison, Monument - just about every street but Broadway. Not enough buses are on any given street to provide good or convenient service. The #5 bus line is totally redundant with the subway from Hopkins Hospital to Mondawmin, except that the bus takes up to 48 minutes while the subway takes only 12 minutes. The #15 line never gets any closer to Hopkins than the mysterious corner of Eager and Broadway two blocks north of the edge of the campus, where many civilized people are not too fond of walking. No wonder people don't.

4. OWINGS MILLS

The other end of the Metro system is perhaps an even greater planning disaster. Owings Mills is a booming suburban growth area - everywhere EXCEPT near its Metro station. From there, what one can mainly see are vast expanses of parking lots. Beyond these lots in one direction is a lone office building where the historic Samuel Owings House used to stand. In the other direction, one can see a large dirt plateau, crowned by the Owings Mills Mall. But forget about walking to any of these destinations from the transit station. A sign on the dirt plateau warns against doing this with a warning as stern as if it was quicksand. One person who tried to make the journey through this no man's land was murdered. The MTA feeder bus system is of little help. The Mall will only allow the bus to stop at the outer reaches of their huge parking lot, perhaps because of the stigma of letting lowly bus patrons be associated too closely with the mall. Consequently, people don't like to take the bus, which means that service is infrequent, which means that it is poor, which means that congestion is heavy, which means that Owings Mills development ignores the Metro and looks instead to still more highway access for its transportation salvation.

3. ELDERSBURG

There is very little reason for Eldersburg to be a planning disaster, but it is. Liberty Road (Maryland Route 26) tapers nicely to two lanes as it extends outward from Baltimore County over the beautiful Liberty Reservoir. As one enters Carroll County, however, the road widens again in a last gasp to accommodate sprawl development. Meanwhile, Maryland Route 32 does the same thing as it extends northward from Columbia, going from a major expressway to a two lane road. Where these roads intersect is Eldersburg. Even though both roads are fed by two lane roads across the County borders, they widen at their intersection as much as physical laws will allow, to accommodate a nearby Wal-mart and every other accoutrement of modern sprawl. Nevertheless, congestion continues to increase with frightening regularity. So what does one do next? The intersection can't get any bigger. There is no entry in the twenty year plan for a road "improvement", as it is euphemistically referred. Instead, there are massive plans to widen the roads AWAY from the intersection, so that traffic can converge on this massive bottleneck with ever greater ease and efficiency. There are also plans to convert many of the now quiet residential streets in the surrounding neighborhoods of Eldersburg into traffic short cuts around the big intersection, as some like Ridge and Bennett Roads already are. Won't Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner be surprised when their quiet little cul-de-sac on MacBeth Way becomes an open speedway?

2. INTERSTATE 95 FROM WHITE MARSH TO HARFORD COUNTY

This segment of Interstate 95 was widened a few years ago under the guise of establishing new "High Occupancy Vehicle" lanes. Sounds good, right? Give carpooling a chance, right? Well, they widened the expressway, and then erected signs that said "High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes - Future". The only problem is that the widening eliminated the congestion, at least temporarily. Therefore, there was no longer any need for the "High Occupancy Vehicle - Future" designation. So the signs came down. And gradually the traffic increased, and the congestion increased to its former level. What did the planners do next? Did they enact the "High Occupancy Vehicle" designation? No way!!! Instead they devised a new plan to widen Interstate 95 AGAIN. And, of course, they promised that that when the road is to be widened, the new lanes will be designated for... you guessed it ... High Occupancy Vehicles.

1. THE FRANKLIN-MULBERRY EXPRESSWAY

The big ditch in West Baltimore is a classic planning disaster. So why repeat ancient history? Because the impact of destroying a huge swath of West Baltimore to build a road that goes nowhere continues to this very day. The massive neighborhood destruction to make way for the road created a ripple of urban displacement that effected communities throughout the City and well into the suburbs. Public housing waiting lists swelled. The high rise "projects" which flanked the new highway were blamed for the ills of the urban poor. These buildings have recently been imploded (along with the adjacent low rise projects which apparently were guilty by association with the "evil" high rises), and are being replaced with lower density housing. This has created a new round of housing displacement. Meanwhile, the older traditional neighborhoods near the highway haven't fared much better. The highway is a very imposing barrier to the community fabric. Meanwhile, the traffic volumes on the local neighborhood streets are still excessive and have a strongly adverse community impact. They have not turned into quiet idyllic streets, with all through traffic diverted to the freeway. For many of the local people, there is no promise for the future of life itself, much less for transportation planning.